1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of ascertaining the state of aggregation of a medium and to an apparatus for carrying out said method.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A conventional method and apparatus for carrying out said method has been applied for condensate draining and has been operating in accordance with the so-called cascade principle. In such apparatus a certain intermediate pressure depending on the particular medium used is built up in a chamber or space between two orifices, said intermediate pressure attaining a value between the inlet pressure ahead of the first orifice and the discharge pressure after the second orifice, whereby this intermediate pressure is then utilized in the control of the condensate discharge apparatus. Thereby both such orifices are arranged at a considerable distance from one another and hardly coaxial to one another such that the divergence of the jet pattern of the medium leaving the first nozzle, which divergence depends largely on the state of aggregation of the medium, does in no way influence the mentioned intermediate pressure. Such cascade condensate discharge apparatus features the drawback, that the utilizable differential pressures specifically at high temperatures (e.g. in case of a comparison between boiling water and saturated steam) are quite small and that changes of diameters of a bore defining an orifice due to deposits or erosions alter to such an extent that an exact ascertaining of the state of aggregation of a particular medium is no longer possible.